Failure to See
by Neranimmisar
Summary: Augment of the end of season 6. A being comes to balance and pause Willow's addiction to magic before she can kill anyone, though things never go as planned for anyone, even gods. Not the best at summary's...rating may rise in the future.


**Story:** _**Failure to See**_

**Prelude**

Comments: The first chapter goes over in a fast way much of what happened at the end of season 5 and most of season 6. The rest of the story begins after that.

There was a droning beneath the surface of everything else that was happening...but the battle was frenzied, the field so loud she couldn't figure out what exactly the humming below the pounding of her own heart was. The physical pain was muted but enough that she still remembered how it had been. It wasn't the clearest part of the dream, that was reserved for what was about to happen. Somehow even in all the din there was a rising fear, a knowledge of what was approaching, that it had happened before. She couldn't do anything to stop it then, and she wouldn't be able to do anything to stop it now. Just watch, again, like a hellish movie in slow motion and on replay.

The light that grew above them in the sky was treacherous. It's light was deceptive and only existed to release shadows into the world, to break the edges of dimensions until all that had been of their world would be replaced by those things no one cared to speak of. It curled backward and lashed out like a snake formed of the heavens, carving apart that which everyone cared about, that which they loved with lines of hateful electricity. Transforming it into the darkness from which it was born.

They had been fighting off the uglys that worked for Glory, doing their best to allow Buffy the time to reach and save Dawn she'd defeated the god. They'd known what it would take to close the door when they went in, that the blood must cease to flow if the gateway was to be shut and banish the chaos from their world. But they'd always managed before, Buffy had always lived through the attacks, even when she died. This was different, as her body fell from the skyrise of unfinished construction there was the horrible knowledge that she wouldn't get up from the crunch as her body made a tiny crater in the ground.

The resounding of the crash ceased and she still couldn't make out the distant hushed whisper that kept repeating in the back of her mind, barely noticable and yet it was something she fought to make out. All the while being tormented by what had passed, continued to haunt her.

Originally she hadn't seen it, when she'd been busy at the field of battle trying to keep herself and Tara safe. When the gateway opened she'd assumed it was too late, she'd turned to kiss her beloved, to have a final moment of piece...

Though it had really only been a seed of sadness, one that continued to grow and prosper in the time after Buffy's death. Turning into desperation, grief, and hatred. Now that she was reliving the battle yet again she could crane her neck and barely see the figure in the lightning ringed portal far above her.

When the light faded it wasn't just that coming from the opening portal to hell. Buffy was gone, just like that, no fight, no real goodbyes, nothing, she was there and then she wasn't there. Her life was gone before the portal had even closed, it's energy the burst that had allowed them to save their world, again. She'd made the ultimate sacrifice but this time she wouldn't be brought back, this time she was gone, out of there hands. There was nothing she could do to help her...

The sun had started to rise but it didn't matter, the daylight was dim and barely adequate compared to the friend that they had lost. Golden rays seemed more sickly, the thought pushed forward by Spike bending to avoid them.

Even upon approaching the body she felt the lump in her throat reappear, so thick and painful she couldn't speak, could barely cry. Her friend was gone, the corpse in front of her morbidly bent on the broken bricks and wooden planks that had been her landing. Unmoving and silent forevermore, that's when the humming became instantly clear.

_ "The door to pandemonium closes and the paired midnight rise. The chosen returns and chaos chases her heels."_

"Willow?" Tara was shaking her lover gently, a worried expression on her face as she watched her lover's eyes pop open in fright. "Are you okay?"

_"That nightmare again."_ Willow thought darkly, then offered a small smile to reassure the girl still holding her arms. "I'm okay...just dreaming about what happened...you know...to Buffy."

"Yeah." Tara nodded sadly. "I'm sorry. I didn't want to wake you but you were mumbling."

"What?"

"You were making noises. I couldn't tell what you were saying." Tara shrugged, twisting her skirt in a few fingers and not keeping eye contact. "Are you sure we should...try to...you know...Giles leaves this afternoon and we haven't told him."

"He'd tell us to stop." Willow answered, suddenly animated she sat up and shook her head at her lover. Short red hair flaring to either side a little. "We have to save her Tara. She deserves better than being in some hellish dimension..."

"Yeah yeah I know." Tara sighed softly, sitting next to Willow on the bed. "It's just dangerous, this sort of magic is unlike anything we've done before. If we aren't careful..."

"We'll be careful." Willow assured, putting her hand over Tara's gently. "We'll talk it out with everyone and tonight at sunset we'll bring her back. Then it'll be okay again. The buffy bot won't be able to keep tricking everyone forever."

"Right. I'll let you get dressed, I promised Dawn I'd make her some french toast." Tara said, kissing Willow and heading out of the room.

The redhead sighed again, glancing toward their bathroom and moving that way as she frowned about the repetitive nightmare. The voice couldn't even speak english correctly. What the heck did 'the paired midnight rise' mean anyway? If something was going to invade her dreams then it could at least use proper grammar doing it.

It wasn't good, the premonition obviously had something to do with Buffy dying and coming back. ...but she couldn't just let Buffy stay dead, she had to do something. Things were only getting worse and if the vampires figured out the Slayer was dead the city would spiral further, she had to do it. For Buffy, for Dawn, for the gang, for the city, the world needed her.

Willow nodded, starting her shower and taking off her nightgown. Doing her best to put the premonition out of her mind, she had to do it, she had to bring Buffy back from the dead. She knew it involved something possibly bad, but in Sunnydale there was always something bad. It would turn into worse if Buffy at least wasn't around to help, the bad would come with or without her, with her made it better.

She went about the day as normally as possible, it was a harsh surprise to find Giles leaving them, though perhaps it was just as well. He could return if the spell was successful, the spell had to be. They told him goodbye at the airport and sent him off as best they could, it was difficult to not cry but manageable. He wouldn't like what they were doing, he would freak out and just try to interrupt. Willow had made them promise they wouldn't tell him, that they would help her return Buffy's soul from the hell dimension she'd been tossed to when she saved the world the last time. It was needed, and while there was a little hesitation they were finally at the graveyard. Setting up at sunset, somehow a fitting opposite to the way she'd died at sunrise. They would bring her back and she shouldn't have missed more than a day.

Preparations took a while, they were having issues lighting the candles to start the few minutes before midnight that they needed. They all settled in a circle around the grave and Willow began the spell, too concentrated on her work to really notice the concerned expressions on the rest of the people helping her with the spell. She wiped the blood across her face, then spilled the rest on the ground as she continued the chant.

Her arms flew to either side, held strong by an invisible force, slash marks coming across them as she grunted in pain but held strong and continued the spell. Her friends were concerned but Tara held them so they wouldn't ruin the spell and her lovers pain would be for nothing.

Willow's skin moved, as if bugs were crawling under her skin and finally she flew forward as if she was going to be sick, vomiting a snake as Tara continued to repeat with less and less certainty that it was 'just a test'. They were all unaware of the gang of vampires that was off destroying the city, or that the Buffy bot was found out and she was leading them toward the ritual that very moment.

The energy gathered around Willow and circled in a firey hellish manner even while the motorcycles drove around the group. Willow screamed.

"No."

Then she passed out.

The group broke off, dropping and forgetting the candles as they were chased by the rampent vampires. With the strongest witch amougst them passed out they were lucky to get off into the woods and away from where the motor gang was preparing to rip the Buffy bot apart.

"Make sure she's okay." Xander handed the passed out Willow off to Tara, moving to hold Anya and continuing to speak in a low but angry voice. "Okay for someone who just had snakes coming out of their mouth. What the hell was that all about Tara?"

"Less talking, more running away." Anya urged, it was hard to ignore the hoots, hollars, and engines of the gang still precariously close to them.

"It's a part of invoking a god you know." The voice was not lowered like thiers, it wasn't screaming but it lacked a certain sense of stealth the rest of the group was hoping for. Xander got in front of the rest of the girls while the scoobies stared at the unexpected visitor. "She didn't get it nearly as badly as some I've seen. She's powerful."

It at least looked like a man, a handsome younger man, he didn't appear much older than any of them. Long silver hair was drawn back out of his face, it wasn't a matter of being old, it seemed to fit him perfectly well. His eyes were extremely dark, it was difficult to pick out a color in the poorly lit forest where they were cowering and Willow was still passed out. He was pale but not in a vampire manner, more like someone that didn't get a lot of sunlight. His cheekbones were high, his nose coming to a point above a slight smirk on his lips. He was wearing a simple dark gray suit and tie with a white shirt beneath, hands in the pockets of his trousers. A chain ran from his belt loop to the left pocket.

"Who the hell are you?" Xander was the first to manage to ask. "What are you talking about?"

"I am what you could call a balancer. About the girl." The man stated very manner of factly, answering each question in kind. "You asked what the snake was about. A favored test by the Egyptian known gods. It's dangerous business you know, bringing people back from the dead."

"Um...we shouldn't be here." Anya urged again, though she looked more frightened than before.

"A bit late for that." The man commented with a shrug. "It's the dead ones you fear?"

"Yeah a little bit...who the hell are you?" Xander frowned at the latest complication, Willow was still passed out. The spell for Buffy didn't seem to have worked, everything was out of order.

"I answered that. Though I suppose you require a name?" The question appeared to be retorical, the man considering after it without looking at them. "You may address me as Valen."

"What are you doing here exactly? And could you keep your voice down?" Xander asked, glancing nervously around as the lights still raised and lowered the illumination where they were standing.

"I'm observing, though I thought that would have been obvious after my previous mention of it. I believe Anya should know what I am." He stated still in the same tone, it was calm and not loud, but it seemed that way to the crowd trying to keep it down. "Moment, I'll deal with the issue of the dead ones."

He walked past them toward where the vampires were still busy hunting the slayer would-be bot.

"Anya, that guys not human...I get that." Xander said, moving to pick up Willow. "We'll need to talk about this back at the magic box. We should get out of here. You go with Tara, I'll take Willow."

"But..." Anya protested, still looking frightened.

"Don't worry, but we shouldn't hesitate, that guy we probably wanna avoid for now." Xander commanded, picking up Willow and starting to walk away with her into the woods.

They had split and she began to wake up so Xander paused so they could talk. It was the first realization when they'd lost the parts of the ritual that were unique that she'd lost her. That Buffy was beyond their reach completely.

"She's gone...she's really gone..." Willow began to cry into Xander's shoulder, not knowing what to do. It'd seemed a little surreal til then, that she'd just been in another world and they'd had to rescue her, now the rope with which to pull her free had been torn and there was nothing else they could do.

"I guess you are still young, still learning." The voice was familar to Xander but he still jumped with Willow. The man that had haunted them at the grave-site had apparently followed them off again.

"Okay, stop following us creepy...silver haired...thing guy." Xander finished lamely. "I thought you were going to take care of the vampires."

"The ones in the forest here are...taken care of...as you put it." The man paused to consider the language as he stated things, like someone that was still learning. "The ones in the city are still causing all sorts of damage. It's frustrating that creatures are beginning to forget their place."

"Who's that Xander?" Willow managed, rubbing at the tears around her eyes and frowning at the unexpected visitor. "What is he doing here?"

"I dunno Will." Xander shrugged. "He said his name was Vader or something."

"Valen." The man corrected helpfully. "And I'm here for a number of reasons, you are among those, it is dark magic that you were so freely playing with."

"What do you mean?" Willow paled a little, allowing Xander to stand in front of her at the man's words. "I was trying to save someone. The city is falling apart without her."

"Yes. I suppose the balance is in danger. That I must agree with." He nodded seriously. "Though it is strange that you would bring back someone's life and then leave them to die."

"What...what do you mean?" Xander was the shocked one this time. "Will, what does he mean? It didn't work right?"

"It worked." The man answered while Willow still stared dumbfounded. "She's alive right now...doing her best to dig I'd imagine."

"Oh god..." Willow only managed it in a whisper. "Xander we have to go back."

The pair ran back the way they came from. It was too much time to stop even to cry, their chests burned but by the time they got there it was only a hole in the ground, they were too late.

"We have to find her Xander." Willow insisted instantly. "She...we..."

"Brought her back to life and left her to dig her way out of the grave?" The man commented, he walked up next to them looking at the hole.

"Shut up." Xander pointed at the man, hands shaking a little. "You don't wanna help us then don't. If you can't tell us where she is then just shut up."

"I did help you." The man shrugged at him. "She is in the city fulfilling her birthright, it won't be long though...her thoughts aren't what you would expect. I imagine the scene will be interesting, you've relived it a lot in your dreams as of late Willow. I hope you make it there in time."

He took a step away and just vanished through some sort of door they couldn't make out. "Willow...what is he talking about? What does he mean?" Xander turned on his friend. "What is going on?"

"No time right now." Willow answered running back toward the city. "We have to hurry."

ooooo ooooo ooooo ooooo ooooo ooooo ooooo

The tower was decrepit, it was falling apart even as the sisters stood on it. One begging the other to accept her newfound gift of life. It was what many would describe as tragic, the others running toward them while one did all she could to hold her to life.

They fell and she could have allowed herself to die again, falling debrie could have crushed her skull if she hadn't saved herself. Though she did, the rest of the group ran toward them.

"How long has this lack of balance been allowed to continue?" The question this time was definitely rhetorical. The man was standing unseen by the group below him talking to himself, walking after them on the lack of a visible ground as they walked toward the place they kept telling her was home. "The world is broken, and approaching something worse. Yet we do nothing? Are the other balancers just gone? Sleeping like I was?"

His face was barely a frown. Continuing to follow them. "These people, there are so many strands tying them to the supernatural and yet they are doing a better job of keeping the balance than we have been. My people...what have you been doing here? Why was I woken by something so simple when there are so many worse things that have occurred?"

His mind was vast, it was beyond the capacity of the mortals or even demons around him in the city. He knew everything happening, he sensed the smallest changes in other parts of the world, it wasn't too far away that other problems were being fought by balance keepers unknown to him. "They have left here."

It was a statement not a question, he couldn't sense others of his kind, not in this world or it's sub-dimensions. "Why? They left me no instructions? These people, they brought me back. They fight so much and yet...they have protected the world. The one they saved has died for it more than once. The witch, the one that called upon the gods and woke me..."

"No..." He shook his head, frowning again as he watched the man in the woods and one of the dead ones argue over the resurrection spell. The dead one was the most observant, no spell failed to have a cost. "I was stirring before that, when the God had lost her mind and tried to combine planes. The gateway started my true waking and the magics of life and death are what finally got me to stand. This body though..."

He looked at his arm, frowning at it. "That is the question. Why?"

He settled to watch, he might have looked human but he didn't need to sleep on a normal human's schedule. They began to be haunted, he observed them for days, taking time to look into their pasts in more detail. The spell's countereffect, it's balance, was taking place.

Yet somehow he found it to be unfair...that the world had lost those that were suppose to help keep the balance and it was left to people that were unprepared for it. The slayer helped but had been more like a rusty lock, getting the job done of keeping the evil out of the yard. Once broken things had unraveled and rushed in at a rate unseen previously, they'd been allowed to gather in such masses that the balance was barely able to stand.

Time moved both more slowly and more quickly for him, days passed as he considered, watching them fight off the creature that attempted to kill the one they loved enough to risk damnation for. Watched her lie to protect them, the paradox of her trusting her deepest concerns only to the dead one she claimed to hate.

"Damn." He muttered lowly. "I'm not suppose to get involved."

He continued to observe them while doing various small things to start to help bring the balance back to the world with little drain of his attention. They wouldn't remember his interference, it had been small and human minds often would rather forget when they could. It was interesting that she was so brought down by such tiny things.

Money. It was a logical invention, payment for items or services. It was difficult for her however, in attempting to keep the balance she was left with the issues of being lesser class. The responsibilities of being similar to a single parent, being the slayer, being a homeowner with no credit. He was quickly learning the language and how much it was starting to get to her, until the older man that was once her watcher arrived. She was happy to push off some of the needs of life onto him. Then left to spend time with the dead one, somehow punishing herself and also lying to herself as well as everyone else.

Meanwhile the girl that had caused him to draw attention here continued to get more brass, less caring of the balance instead of selfish as to her own needs. She threatened someone she thought of as a friend...it was time that would tell, though he figured he would end up having to step in.

Complications. That was quickly what he was discovering from the people he watched. There were other humans that seemed to content themselves with causing further troubles for her, that often stayed in their parents basements and giggled strangely. He didn't pay the closest attention to all of the group but he had a general idea of all happenings with them as well as the trio after they'd cast a spell to trap her in time with consequences.

Distractions kept him from keeping too close an eye and he was still hesitant to get directly involved with them again. They seemed capable of taking care of things for themselves and while they weren't repeating the overt break of the balance he couldn't justify his involvement. While the tally sheet was still in their favor of helping instead of hurting he couldn't step in. It was against the laws set up for his race...even if the others had vanished he felt it only logical to continue in his purpose. As it was much of his energy was being spent fixing things in places that weren't lucky enough to have defenders.

Though he was steadily changing that it would take a lot more time and effort, it took up the majority of his consciousness, only a fraction of it was spying on the scoobies. The powerful one and her lover fought over the way she abused the energies she could control, the human and ex-demon announced their marriage, the young one seemed to have some strange attraction to danger and the powerful one betrayed her lover again...

It made him pause to consider more carefully...she continued to abuse the art, even to do things that many would consider the darker half of morality. Though he still hesitated.

One summoned a demon that made them sing and dance about their lives and do things they'd considered but never openly admit otherwise. Mostly it seemed to raise further complications in all of their lives. Buffy had finally told them that she had been in heaven and they'd ripped her from it and made her dig herself from the grave. Willow was discovered in her betraying memory augmentation spell. They of course felt much worse about themselves, at least the one called Willow seemed to regret it for a time before falling back into the usual act of speaking about magic. She argued more with her lover and failed to be convinced of the truth by even her lover.

What was decided in many cases weren't always the best, but each was doing what they thought was best even if it caused further pain. All of them seemed very confused and desperate and he was having a harder time failing to step in. It'd been weeks but things didn't seem to be getting better. Willow lied yet again, an oath she'd made to avoid spells for a week barely lasted a day...the majority of which she'd been sleeping.

Carelessness, it was a miscast because of it, all of them lost their memory and while it was vaguely amusing to watch the events that followed until the spell broke he felt irritated at the growing ego in the woman. She didn't lack kindness but he would have to step forward again if she did not become more careful.

Then things changed a little, her lover left and she still didn't seem to understand that there were consequences for her actions. More and more he felt the need to watch their group, another witch joined them, one that had been cursed for years. The dead one met up with the trio and asked them to fix something. It was strange but he mostly overlooked the dead one to instead watch Willow. She was getting drunk on magic...he almost stepped out but issues elsewhere demanded too much of his attention to fully show himself. It was nothing harmful this time but there was the growing threat of it turning into something much more dangerous.

The dead one and the slayer began fighting and then became intimate. Then she wanted to cry about it and began to threaten to kill him. That was perhaps the strangest development, humans were confusing. If it hadn't been such a unique moment it wouldn't have been able to pull him away from the continuing fall into darkness. It had become that her own energy wasn't enough anymore, she burned herself completely out of energy she could invoke and she began to seek it elsewhere. She went to one of the demons capable of siphoning and blending magical energy, that fed off of it, was capable of leaving humans in a euphoric state similiar to some drugs other humans used. She had addicted herself to it at such a level that she was quickly approaching the point of no return. Though he feared even talking to her wouldn't help, her lover walking away had done nothing to stop her, his warning would ring hollow next to something like that.

She continued to fail to see that there was always a cost. This time it was a demon out of her mind that attacked the young one that had once been the key. She laughed while they were trying to escape, drunk on magic she crashed them into a building with a stolen car. The monster continued to go after her friend instead of her. Her body became heavily injured before the slayer and dead one were able to interfere. The creature burned away, and Willow couldn't completely understand what had happened, she cried, she begged, but she deserved a cold shoulder, colder than the one that was offered to her. She finally at least decided she needed help, sought it out, it was a tiny step back toward the light but Valen remained wary, keeping a closer eye.

The rest was glossed over for a while. Some random person with authority was saying they might take the young one away after the accident, the slayer cut her hair to try to deal with the horrible parts of her life. She was turned invisible by the annoying trio with an augmented invisibility spell wand gone awry. Willow was blamed for the issue which is what brought his attention more on it in the first place. Buffy used her newfound ability to torture the woman attempting to take her younger sister. Understandable enough, much more logical than the behavior with the dead one, if a bit unfortunate for the woman. They finally discovered the trio behind it but let them run off from the place where they fought invisibly.

Willow did better, avoiding magic all together for the duration, finding the people behind it and returning all involved to normal. It was good to see the recovery moving, though she was still obviously tempted. It would allow him to focus elsewhere for a while.

The slayer had some job to help with bill problems, she threw a fit over her issue of being intimate with the dead one (as if she hadn't done it before), recovery continued for Willow, the man and ex-demon continued to argue about marriage up until the day when he left her standing at the alter, the trio continued to cause them trouble, it was as average for them for a while as it could be. Though only a couple months was allowed to them before he was forced to refocus his attention again. A sudden and direct draw on the magical force followed the death of Willow's lover. His eyes turned instantly back to the redhead only for him to focus more fully on them all, she was demanding a god listen to her will, she'd instantly lost herself and was more than willing to do anything to get what she wanted. However noble the cause things had to end before they grew even worse, he arrived as she'd finished pulling the bullet from the slayers chest, rescuing her life yet again from the other side. Other issues would have to wait, he had to cease this lack of control before it consumed everything, his hands lifted from his pockets and within one a scythe materialized as he appeared in front of the back haired Willow.

**End Prelude**

Well, hopefully I don't just get ignored and folks like where this eventually goes.

-Nera

P.S. Feedback makes me warm and fuzzy.


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